✨Im Literary Anxious✨

𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲🕒: 2 minutes
𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿:  Jeneva Rose✍🏻𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 303 📖

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀: ⭐⭐.5
𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲: 🌶️.5
𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: Jeneva Rose
𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 303
𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁: Standalone
𝗘𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲: Is WTF a type? (Open-Ended)
𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲: Single POV

“𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨.”
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥, 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘦.”
“𝙊𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙩, 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙩.”

🧟 Enemies to Lovers
🔥 He Falls First
🧟 Zombie Apocalypse
🔥 Forced Proximity
🧟 One Room
🔥 Doom Prepping

This was good… until it wasn’t. Unlike fine wine, the longer it sat with me, the more sour it became.

The setup? Killer (no pun intended).

Casey getting bit in chapter one had me thinking, well, either this is the shortest zombie book ever, or something’s off. Turns out, not every bite turns you—intriguing twist. I was in.

My brain during the Chicago/Nate chapters:

• At least their survival setup makes sense.
• Yes, she resents her dad’s doomsday-prepper obsession, but now isn’t the time for petty grudges.
• Nate’s a little bitch.
• Correction: Nate’s a huge bitch.

Once Casey reached the compound, things were hit-or-miss. It never fully committed—romantic suspense? rom-com? Something else? It stayed stuck in a weird limbo.

Enemies to Lovers is my kryptonite, so I wanted to ship Casey/Blake. But glimpses of his high school “bully boy” behavior soured it. Enemies to Lovers? Yes. Bully romance? Meh. Honestly, I was more invested in Casey’s relationship with her dad and her working through childhood baggage than I was in the romance.

Then there’s Nate. He shows back up, and instead of Casey immediately clocking him with a bat (as she should’ve), we get a twist that didn’t feel earned. Even with minimal setup, his actions just didn’t track.

I was hovering at a solid 3.5 stars… until that ending. The epilogue especially felt like betrayal. Romance requires a HEA or at least a HFN, and this had neither. Which means: this isn’t a romance. It’s some hybrid suspense subgenre that doesn’t have a name.

End of the day, I feel duped—spent a day and a half on this when I could’ve been reading something else. The final gut punch didn’t even land until the epilogue, which made it sting worse.

Listen, I’m not saying don’t read it. Just know going in: by definition, this is not a romance.

This was my September Amazon First Read for August. The book will be available October 1st, 2025.